My goal today is to inspire you to go to Ireland. As genealogists you will find that there are
more and more records coming on line every day.
But online records are absolutely no substitute for going there. Even if you have already discovered your
Ulster Ancestry and have a fully illustrated published family history to prove
it, I still recommend that you go there.
There is a process that happens when you walk on the same
ground where your ancestors walked. I
like to call that process “getting your bearings.” You get a sense of direction and purpose that
you really cannot experience unless you go there.
If you take a look at these statistics you will see the
numbers of people that came from Ulster during a series of 70 year
time periods.
The first figure of approximately 2,000 includes the Caribbean and South America. The rest of the numbers are for North America
During the
1820-1890 period there were also about a half million people that moved to
Scotland, England and Wales. Because you
had many people from Ulster in Great Britain it is also a good strategy to search
for people with your surnames in Great Britain that were born in your subject
counties. The British census records for
example give the name of the county in the birthplace column.
In the period
of the Famine we have estimates based on the censuses of 1841 and 1851 that
close to 300,000 people left Ulster during that ten year period alone.
One of the things to note here is the reference to Familia the Ulster Genealogical Journal. I highly encourage you to start reading this
periodical for historical context. For
example, the December 2005 edition has an article that talks about inheritance
being a factor in chain migration.
Definitions
¢ Chain migration -the social process
by which immigrants from a particular town (or family) follow others from that
town (or family) to a particular city or neighborhood.
¢ Ulster -a province comprising nine counties, three of which in
1921 joined Irish Free State (now Republic of Ireland) while six remained with
United Kingdom
¢ One Name Studies -a project
researching all occurrences of a surname, as opposed to tracing ancestors or
descendants of a particular individual
We have seen
the map of Ulster in the title slide and we know that there are nine counties
in the region known as Ulster and six of
those counties remained in the United Kingdom as part of a new country known as
Northern Ireland. The counties of
Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan became part
of the Republic of Ireland.
Due to the scarcity
of Irish records an excellent genealogical approach is to widen the focus from
a particular pedigree to all occurrences of a surname in your Irish locality
whether it be a townland, a county or a region like Ulster. Unfortunately,
due to fires and government record destruction, you will never have all of the
pieces of your Ulster genealogical puzzles." By systematically gathering
all records relating to your subject surnames you can effectively piece together an image of your Ulster ancestry.
I am going to be using two of my Ulster
surnames as a case study to illustrate the principals of Chain Migration and
One Name Studies. The scope of this
study quickly becomes quite large when you consider all of the descendants of
these people.
By tracing all
of the descendants, I have been able to find written accounts and documents
that have helped to tie all of these people together into family groups. However, many mysteries remain.
Today the island of Ireland is divided into
two countries: (1) the Republic of Ireland, also known
as Éire and (2) the Northern Ireland region of the United Kingdom. Eire is represented by the IE abbreviation
and URL. The government agencies of
Northern Ireland use the uk.gov URL.
Northern
Ireland uses the British pound as their
currency and Ireland is part of the Euro Zone and uses the Euro for their
currency. If you are planning a trip to
Ireland you will need to carry both currencies if you plan to cross the border.
Prior to 1922. the island of Ireland was one country and it was one of the four constituent countries of the United
Kingdom together with England, Scotland, and Wales. The
language most widely spoken is English but the Republic of Ireland also publishes many of their documents in Gaelic and is
actively attempting to preserve and promote Gaelic language and heritage.
There are several acronyms here that you need to learn.
GRO is an abbreviation for General Register
Office which retains the civil records of birth , marriage and death. PRONI
stands for Public Record Office of Northern Ireland which functions more like
the U.S. National Archives.
I had collected photos and notes about the Banfords and the Nevins from my Aunt Aline.
The girl is my
great grandmother Anna Elizabeth Banford.
She was born in Schuyler County, Missouri which is on the Missouri and
Iowa state line.
The old woman in this photograph is
shown here as “Grandma Nevin.” Her
maiden name was Anne Bamford. Several descendants were named Anna Elizabeth so that may have been her full name too. She was born in County Fermanagh and came to
the United States in 1850 with her husband, Thomas Nevin and three
daughters.
When I started, I knew that this family group in the large red circle immigrated in
1850.
It is not clear whether George
Banford was considered a friend or a family member. George immigrated in 1853 and married Mary
Nevin in Schuyler County in 1859. George
and Mary were living next door to Thomas and Anne Nevin in 1860.
Samuel and Alexander in the fourth generation on the pedigree chart are the
right ages to be siblings but I have not found any records to support that
conclusion. If Samuel and Alexander were
brothers, then George Banford and Mary Nevin would share a great grandfather
which would make them 2nd cousins.
With Irish research sometimes it is better to be lucky
than to be good. My One Name Study of the Bamfords was incredibly luck to find this 1821 census record of the
Alexander Bamford family. So let’s zoom
in and take a closer look at this family.
This 1821 record for the townland of Ramult in County Fermanagh shows us just how
tragic it was that most of these census records were lost. This 1821 census
lists the names of all of the members of the household and
states their relationship to the head of household. We don’t get this until 1850 in the U.S.
This census
also states the occupation of all of the family members that were working. The father, Alexander Bamford was a farmer
who apparently was growing flax because his wife, Jane is listed as a Flax
Spinner and his son, Joseph is a Weaver.
After several
years of poring over this census record, I have been able to find that
Alexander Bamford was my ancestor. Most
of the people in this family immigrated to North America.
Margaret
Bamford immigrated from County Fermanagh to Canada some time prior to 1846 when she married William
Bryans in Toronto. The Bryans family
lived in Port Stanley, Ontario for at least 20 years and prior to the 1870
census they migrated to the U.S. and settled in Moundsville, West Virginia
which is across the Ohio river from Belmont County, Ohio where her brother,
Joseph Bamford had been living for almost 40 years.
Thomas Nevin and his wife, Ann
Bamford immigrated in 1850 with their three daughters. In 1850, we find them living with Ann’s
brother, Joseph Bamford in Belmont County, Ohio directly across the river from
Wheeling, West Virginia. By 1860 Thomas and Ann Nevin had settled in Schuyler
County, Missouri where they lived the rest of their lives.
William
Bamford was a brother of Joseph and Ann and he immigrated about 1850 and went
directly to Wheeling, West Virginia. He
was married twice in Ireland and had five children in Ireland and was married a
third time in Wheeling and had five children with his third wife.
This is screenshot of the 1911 Census website sponsored
by the National Archives of Ireland. These records appear to be complete for the
entire island.
You can see
that this is a listing of the surnames found residing in the six households in
the Townland of Rafintan. In house six, you
will notice that the head of household is named Irvine and that there is also
someone named Nevin living in that household.
It turns out that this is a widow probably living with her daughter’s
family.
But for
demonstration purposes, let’s look at the Lynn family.
This is the transcribed list of occupants and again we
should repeat that this census database was
sponsored by the National Archives of Ireland. We see that the head of household was Thomas
Lynn and that his wife was Grace. I was
able to find a marriage record for Thomas Lynn and Grace Nevin and I was able
to determine that both of them are Nevin descendants. The mother of Thomas Lynn was Jane
Nevin. The father of Grace Nevin was
Galbraith Nevin.
The landlord for the Rafintan townland was the Brooke Family. Their manor house is called Colebrooke and the nearest town
is called Brookeborough. When I was in
Ireland, I went to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and looked at
the Rent Book for the
Brooke Estate for 1851. The book shows
the names of the tenants in the townland of Rafintan and the rents collected. The listing for my ancestor Thomas Nevin
shows a half year's rent due May 1851 of £7, 10p, 5 1/2d that was paid by
Galbraith Nevin. This would indicate
that Thomas Nevin and family had left Ireland and that they had transferred
their interest in the land to Galbraith Nevin.
When we dig into the Griffiths valuation we will learn how to trace the transfer of ownership of the lands of Rafintan.
Here we see the original image for the 1911 census
listing of the Lynn family. There is some additional information here
about education levels and occupations and in the far right column it gives the
County of Birth. In the case of this family,
they were all born in County Fermanagh.
One of the
things that I also want you to notice are the first names of the children:
Richard, Mary Jane and Isabella.
The gravestones of Ulster are
particularly valuable because you find several members of the family listed on
the same gravestone. Here is an example
that helps to tell us more about the Lynn family that we just saw in the 1911
census.
Thomas Lynn is
clearly noted as a resident of Rafinton. He and his wife and
children are all named on this stone with their dates of death and their age at
death. This is like having a family
group sheet printed on the gravestone. I
will tell you now that I had to go to Ireland to get this picture.
The daughters,
Mary Jane and Isabella were the last known residents of the farm in Rafintan so before I
made my trip, I was very interested in finding anyone named Lynn that resided
in County Fermanagh.
One of my strategies while planning my trip to Ireland
was to look for people in County Fermanagh with the
names Bamford and Nevin in the online version of the British Telecom white
pages.
There were no
Nevins. So since I knew that the Lynns had occupied Rafintan townland, I
also looked up the listing for the Lynn surname. I got really excited when I found a listing
for George Nevin Lynn. So I called him
up with my International calling card and let him know we were coming to
Northern Ireland. He met us at the Town
Hall gave us a tour of the area and took us home for dinner. I was able to get enough information from him
to determine how he was connected to the Nevins.
After I interviewed George Lynn in
Ireland and looked at his family documents, I was able to piece together his
family history when we got home. As you
can see he was in fact a Nevin descendant.
George had Nevin as a middle name.
George’s paternal grandfather had Nevin as a first name and his great
grandmother was Jane Nevin daughter of Richard Nevin and Isabella Mosgrove.
Keep in mind
at the time we went, we were not sure if any of these people were actually
related. We only knew that they had some
connection with either Bamford or Nevin.
Example of Griffiths search for my ancestral name Nevin
in County Fermanagh, Aghalurcher Parish
Copies of the Valuation are widely available in major
libraries and record offices, both on microfiche and in their original
published form. The dates of first publication will be found under individual
counties.
The Valuation was never intended as a census substitute, and if the 1851 census had survived, it would have little genealogical significance. As things stand, however, it gives the only detailed guide to where in Ireland people lived in the mid-19th century, and what property they possessed. In addition, because the Valuation entries were subsequently revised at regular intervals, it is often possible to trace living descendants of those originally listed by Griffith. (See Valuation Office Records)
The Surnames section of this site provides counts of the number of households of a particular surname recorded in the counties and civil parishes of Ireland, based on the returns of Griffith's Valuation.
You can see
here that there are a series of books ranging from 1864 to 1929. My ancestors had already left Ireland during
this period but many of their siblings and cousins remained there.
When you click on the links you get
to the original images which start here with the cover. The title of
the book is General Valuation of Ireland. Rafintan was in the Union of Lisnaskea and the Electoral Division of Cross. VAL 12B/28/11A
is the PRONI reference number which should be included in your source citation.
This is an index page which shows which page each
townland is listed. So we page forward
to Rafintan on page 36. You may also
notice that the townland of Ramult is on page 39.
So now we are on page
36 and you see that the tax collectors used the same book over a period of
years and crossed out names when a new family occupied a farm. I have told you a little about Galbraith
Nevin that he paid the rent on the farm of my ancestor Thomas Nevin in
1851. Sir Victor Brooke was the lessor of the land and he was also known
as the Lord of the Manor. Galbraith
Nevin also became a lessor after the
departure of John Beatty. At the bottom
of the page you will see that Anthony Nevin took over the land of Samuel
Beatty. So make a mental note of these
names as you will continue to see them in other records.
As you step back further in time, one of the alternatives to census records are the tithe applotment records. The applotment books for each parish give the names of the occupiers, the amount of land that they held and the value assigned to it. The owners or lease holders were required to pay a tithe to the Church of Ireland.
This example
shows the owners and occupiers of Rafintan townland and the other Nivens listings in the County.
Richard and Thomas Nivens were resident in Rafintan in 1833.
Unfortunately there is no descriptive information to state their ages.
You remember Samuel Beatty
was one of the occupiers in the Valuation Books. This gravestone was marked at the bottom with
the words that I have superimposed here: the Family Burying Ground of Samuel
Beatty, Rafinton. This gravestone was located in Colebrooke Cemetery.
You can see
that the wife of Anthony Nevin was Jane Beatty and that she died in 1896. The marriage record of Anthony Nevin and Jane
Beatty confirms that Samuel Beatty was her father and it also states that
Anthony’s father was Galbraith Nevin.
 |
| This stone was erected by Richard Nevin of Rafinton in memory of his parents, his wife, daughter and also his son Thomas who departed this life Sep't 16 th 1838 aged 28 years Also Richard Nevin who departed this life 14 Nov 1862 Aged 84 years Also Isabella Nevin daughter of the late Richard Nevin of Rafinton departed this life July 17 1872 aged 58 years |
For more
historical context on your Ulster Counties, I recommend that you get a copy of
the Ordnance Survey Memoirs for your county.
These books were compiled by the staff of the Ordnance Survey. The best way to describe the Ordnance Survey
is that they were the map makers similar to our U.S. Geological Survey that
produces the topographic maps of the United States. The memoirs are a snapshot of everyday life
in the 1830s when the maps were first being made.
These memoirs were published in the 1980s and
1990s by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University of Belfast. There is a section on each parish in the
county. The descriptions include the
natural features such as hills, lakes, rivers, bogs, woods and climate. The towns are described including their history, the buildings, and the
occupations of the local population. The
economy is described listing the principal industries and the local
agricultural methods. The principal
landowners are featured in some detail with lists of the townlands on their
estates. These books provide very
helpful historical context for the everyday life of your Ulster ancestors.
IRISH ESTATE RECORDS
Few people realize that many of the landed estate owners
kept detailed records of their estates, including records of their tenants.
These estate records are invaluable for the genealogist and many of them are held at the Public Record Office of
Northern Ireland.
The diversity of sources found in estate records is
amazing. The PRONI website has a description of estate records. Suffice it to say that there are plenty more
records for me to explore when I return to the Public Record Office on my next
visit to Belfast.
An interesting
side note to the Irish estates is that since they have been divested of their
land, the current owners have had to come up with a variety of schemes to
maintain these massive houses. You can
see the Lord of the Manor here advertising his deer hunting adventures. The latest scheme is the Colebrooke Spa which was
developed in a reality TV series.
There is a new URL for PRONI the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. PRONI.GOV.UK is short
form URL that I show in the orange box here and still works.
I spent five
days at PRONI and only scratched the surface of their archival records. Before you go, I encourage you to spend lots
of time with their extensive web resources.
I only have time to show you one example of a document that is extracted
in their E-catalog. Notice that I
searched on just the first four letters to try to find variant spellings.
!RESIDENCE: 1807; Derryheely, Co. Fermanagh
D998/26/254 23 Feb. 1807 Lease from Henry Brooke, Colebrooke, Co. Fermanagh, to
Samuel Bamford of Derryheely, Co. Fermanagh, Farmer
a part of the lands of of Derryheely now in his
possession containing 7 acres 1 rood 35 perches and one half perch as lately
surveyed by Wm. Cairns bounded on the
north by that part of the lands of Derryheely now in
the possession of James Byers & on the south by that part of Derryheely now in
the possesion of William Scoles For the lives of John Bamford aged about
ten years, William Bamford aged about eight years, first & second sons of
Samuel Bamford, the Lessee and Adam Byers aged about five years, eldest son of
James Byers of Derryheely: (1) Rent £14 11s. 7
1/2d.; (2) Receivers fees nil; (3) Fourteen days work of man and horse and
fourteen hens or tenpence in lieu of each days work and fourpence in lieu
of each hen; and, (4) Corn, etc, to be ground at mill of Henry Brooke, payment
for not doing so £5. Copy of Deed from PRONI in the possession of Nick Cimino
since 2008
On the left is another example of a lease on the Brooke
Estate involving my immigrant ancestor, Thomas Nevin. I have displayed the
lease next to his gravestone from Schuyler County, Missouri. The gravestone
yields a birth year of 1791. The lease
gives us an estimated birth date of 1793.
We also have a baptismal record dated 1791.
Here is the text of the above lease transcribed:
D998/26/295 : 29 Sep.
1812 Lease from Henry Brooke, Colebrooke, Co. Fermanagh, to
Richard Neven and Thomas Neven, Rafintan, Co. Fermanagh, of 25a.
2r. 5p. of Rafintan, Co. Fermanagh, for the lives of
Thomas Neven, lessee, aged about nineteen, Mathew Lucy, son of
Thomas Lucy of Dogary [Doogary] aged about nine years and Thomas Neven, eldest
son of Richard Neven one of the lessees aged about four years
This is the survey drawing of that lease dated
1812. The area on the bottom of the
image is the demesne where the Brooke family lived. There is the name of
an adjacent townland named Tattynuckle with an alternate spelling but otherwise there is very little detail.
By 1841 the property had been split between Thomas and Richard Nevins so that they both had 11 acres. Some of the adjacent lease holders are named as well as the names of some adjacent townlands. My ancestor, Thomas Nevin left Ireland nine years later so this shows the land that he left behind.
This is how the land looked in the 1860s from the Ordnance Survey maps for the Griffiths valuation at the askaboutireland.ie site. The parcels that are labeled 3A and 4A are the Nevin parcels. Parcel 5 is the bog.
Here is the legend to the Griffiths Valuation Map and it
shows that Galbraith and Richard Nevin were leasing land and subleasing
land to other tenants.
In conclusion, here is a picture of
Bertie Morrow and I in 2008. We were walking up the muddy road on the Lynn property which previously
belonged to the Nevins. This was the
same property where my ancestor, Thomas Nevin lived prior to immigrating to the
United States in 1850 and here I was over a 150 years later walking on that
same ground.
When we went in 2008, the signs of the Irish Troubles were evident everywhere we went. A shaky peace had been established which reduced the level of violence between Catholics and Protestants to the point where it was safe to travel there. The people were ready for peace and reconciliation.
They were ready to accept their American cousins with open arms. The people were so gracious and welcoming. The Irish now realize that genealogical tourism is an important part of their economy and they have been working hard to maintain the peace for a decade. So go there. Now!
Many of the cousins that I met there have passed away. So go there, now! You will treasure your trip to Ireland for the rest of your life
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